Wendy Shoemaker Medical Expenses

Hello, my name is Tessa and I’m raising money for my step-mom, Wendy Shoemaker. Wendy is a 54 year old teacher at Southern High School. She has dedicated her career to helping students with behavioral needs in school and outside of school. She is engaged to her long time partner, Scott and they have 3 golden retrievers, Cappie, Carlo & Goose. You may know her from adopting one of their precious golden puppies. Wendy is known lovingly as “Wee” to her family and friends.

In April of this year, Wendy was forced to take leave from work due to medical issues. She started losing feeling in her legs and arms and was unable to walk. She was under the care of several doctors and specialists and undergoing many tests. In August, Wendy started vomiting and being unable to eat. More doctors and more tests were ordered to try and treat her and find a diagnosis. Wendy had been in the ER twice while awaiting testing ordered by her doctor. On October 3rd, she was taken by ambulance from her home to UPMC western Maryland. There she was diagnosed with neuropathy and was treated with an infusion treatment for several days. In the meantime, Wendy become very confused and was starting to lose her memory, not recognizing family, hallucinate and continuing to not eat. Her electrolytes, ammonia levels and blood levels were among some of the things that were not in normal range and being treated. Wendy’s condition worsened while they continued to run tests- MRI’s, EEG’s, blood testing, spinal taps- the works! Western Maryland was unable to diagnose Wendy and felt she needed to be transferred to a more advanced hospital and on October 30th she was transferred to UPMC Presbyterian ICU in Pittsburgh.

While in Pittsburgh, they discovered internal bleeding due to an untreated ulcer. She was intubated and sedated for about a week while they repaired the bleed, gave her blood and kept her stable. Wendy remains undiagnosed. Her team of doctors continue to run tests, wait for lab results and try to come up with what her diagnosis could be. They seem to think she has a rare disease no one has thought of yet and are unsure she will get better if they do not know how to treat her. Wendy is still very confused. Some days are better than others. Her family drives 2.5-3 hours several times a week to visit her. It’s been very hard being so far away from her, but we pray she is in the right place to get better and come home to us.

With no diagnosis there is no way of knowing how much longer Wendy will be hospitalized.

During this time, Wendy has run out of all benefits offered through her job. She does not have short or long term disability. This means she no longer has insurance benefits either. Wendy was their main source of income and as many of us know, getting state benefits is a long process. Especially with so many things still unknown. I am raising money to take some of the financial burden away while she is in the hospital. With zero income or benefits, there will be a lot of financial strain. I will personally make sure ALL money donated goes to Wendy’s expenses. Thank you all so much for the prayers and continued support!